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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Buy me a box of chocolates and I'll be ________________.
  2. Check the label for the sugar ________________.
  3. James Baker serves as an Honorary Co-________________ for the World Justice Project.
  4. Each ________________ is a complete and highly sophisticated living world in its own right.
  5. He hasn't even shaken my ________________.
  6. TikTok makes it very easy to create ________________.
  7. Do you need a ________________ with that?
  8. Birch trees have smooth white ________________.
  9. She works as an advertiser at a New Jersey ________________.
  10. I got dealt a bad ________________.
  11. I put the bag on or beside the ________________.
  12. Professor Sir Peter Hirsch formerly held the ________________.
  13. Oh no! I wasn't paying attention and left my ________________ phone in the restaurant!
  14. Cut the butternut ________________ into one-inch cubes.
  15. The president vowed to ________________ the mutiny.
  16. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  17. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  18. Our dog starts to ________________ whenever the doorbell rings.
  19. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  20. I'd like to play a game of ________________.
  21. The sergeant loved to ________________ orders at us.
  22. I'll stand ________________ for what I deserve.
  23. He was locked up in a ________________.
  24. Nothing provides more peace of mind than a ________________ decision.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. content — happy
  2. content — the amount
  3. chair — a leader
  4. cell — in biology
  5. hand — part of the body
  6. content — videos and posts
  7. hand — help
  8. bark — of a tree
  9. firm — a company
  10. hand — in cards
  11. chair — to sit on
  12. chair — a professorship
  13. cell — a phone
  14. squash — the vegetable
  15. squash — to crush
  16. march — the month
  17. march — music
  18. bark — a dog's sound
  19. march — the month
  20. squash — the sport
  21. bark — to shout
  22. firm — steady
  23. cell — in a prison
  24. firm — decided

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com